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Oh, And This One Too…

Thought I’d get in touch with you regarding blatant misinformation in the latest pro-life media buy. The figure of 79% excludes the 28% of those surveyed who did not proffer an opinion – the actual percentage of respondents who agreed was 57%. [Survey data here].
That seems about right given that the emotive and leading question posed in the Pro-Life Campaign-commissioned survey was this:

Where does this shower of [insert your own expletive here] get their funding from? They have spent a fortune putting these insulting lies up. These posters bring out primal instincts in me, in that I want to fling my poo at them.

Proud to be Irish? No since I’m not proud of anything I’m not really responsible for.
Proud to live in Ireland? Hell yes, this is actually a wonderful country and I’m sick of this nonsense, we have a terrible political system and even worse government but there’s a lot of great things here to compared to any country you care to name

Ireland is great. Couldn’t agree more. Lots fo friends emigrated, but I am here an love it. Have a relation coming back to gloat about his wonderful expat life next week, but sod that – I love Ireland and even though we have a shower of thieves running the place, it’s beautiful, friendly and just generally great.
Nowhere else I’d rather be, and yes I am proud to be Irish.

“The information is provided by the Pro Life Campaign and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.”

I think they don’t understand the concept of lying – you can’t just say “SOZ IF U BELEEVD US” and make yourselves immune to prosecution.

No new ideas to be seen here, just the same old ones, censor messages that you don’t like.
I wonder does anyone actually have any evidence that money for the posters comes from outside Ireland. I would love to see that. As for the question, how is it emotive? It is considerably less emotive than poll questions that ask if people approve of abortion when a woman’s life is at risk, a situation that does not come up in Ireland with the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world.

Right so I’m going to pay for screentime on the telly at the bottom of Georges Street/Dame Street and run the message “63% of Pro-Life Group Members Are Puppy-Killing Neo-Nazis”. Now I could be sued by some pro-life individuals but my public advertisement would still stand. In short, it is ridiculous. The scope of the ASAI should obviously extend to misleading and false advertisements that are not solely commerical.

Firstly, the fact that most pregnancies don’t endanger the life of the mother is not the same as saying that no pregnancies do. Most potential medical problems don’t impact on the majority of people, testicular cancer for example is suffered by 0.4% of men but I’d still like hospitals to prepare for that eventuality.

Using the Pro Life Campaign’s methods, I’d like to announce my engagement to Christina Hendricks. While Ms. Hendricks has not proffered an opinion on my proposal, I consider her silence to be the same as agreement. Mazel Tov to me!

This type of statistical manipulation is not uncommon when it comes to politics. In fact, during the last referendum, I heard a report on RTE Radio that reported a similar statistic in favour of the Treaty from a Red C poll i.e. 58% Yes, 42% No. However the actual figures were 49% Yes, 35% No and 16% Don’t Know.

I wonder which way it would have been reported if the government had supported a no vote?